Army One crashes near Grand Cay, Bahamas (1973)

  

Grand Cay, Bahamas
Main Residence, Boat Dock, USSS CP and WHCA Radio Room
Type of Activity	Communications Support Trip
Location
Location	Bahama Islands
Date of Activity	26 May 1973
Coordinates	27°15′27.8″N 78°23′40.7″W

26 May 73 to Grand Cay Bahamas to support President Nixon during Visit

The President was visiting his close friend Bob Abplanalp on Grand Cay. I remember the night from hell on Grand Cay very well, I was there when the Mayday call came in. When the midnight shift of USSS agents came in for a landing the blades hooked the water and 16 agents plus the chopper crew hit the water and started to sink. I was asleep when the Mayday call came in. I grabbed a radio and headed for the chopper pad without a flashlight God was it dark, but I could hear the agents yelling. The 15 survivors, agents and crew, were all on the underside of the chopper which had flipped over when it crashed. About the time that I got to the pad Bob Abplanalp arrived on a golf cart which had headlights so we could see the chopper. I called the CP to let them know where the chopper was located and that everyone was still on the chopper and that it was partially submerged. . Maybe five min. after that the boat arrived with the divers and started evacuating the agents. Luckily there were divers on the trip and they finally got to the chopper to start evacuating everyone.

Others arrived and I then went back to the radio room to make sure all the radios were working. I called Walkers Cay to let someone know over there what had happened, I then went to the bunk house where they were bringing everyone any necessary medical treatment, The Presidents personal physician was checking everyone involved in the crash. I found out that an agent was trapped inside the chopper and drowned. Agent J. Clifford Dietrich - May 26, 1973 was killed in this helicopter crash near Grand Cay Island in the Bahamas while on assignment with the Presidential Protective Division. I then returned to the USSS CP to see if the agent on duty needed anything. I was asked to help place Agent Dietrich’s body on a Chinook that had arrived to transport everyone back to GBI and then back to Homestead. They placed him under the jump seats of the chopper and none of the agents that flew back ever knew they were sitting over him. This was one night that I will never forget. That was the last time I ever saw the Army One crew and I think that they were deactivated in 1976, in part because of this crash. In LTC Boyer’s book “Inside the Presidential Helicopter” he disclosed that the altimeter was not properly calibrated and was off by 300 ft. this along with inadequate lighting contributed to the crash.

Army helicopter crashes near Grand Cay Bahamas, lay overturned in water

Nixon Orders Inquiry Into Fatal Crash Of Army Copter Ferrying His Guards

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla., May 27 (UPI)—President Nixon ordered today an investigation to determine what forced an Army helicopter to plummet into the Atlantic last night while taking seven. Secret Service agents to guard him and his family, on a Bahama island. One agent died and nine men suffered minor injuries.

The twin-engine helicopter went down shortly after 10 P.M. (E.D.T.) about a mile south of Grand Cay, the island owned by Mr. Nixon's close friend, Robert H. Abplanalp, a New York multimillionaire.

The aircraft, which was ferrying the Secret Service agents from Florida for their overnight shift, was approaching a landing pad when it went into the water. Gerald L. Warren, deputy White House press secretary, said the dead agent's body was recovered by divers at the scene of the crash. He was identified by the White House as Joseph C. Dietrich, 25 years old, of Woodbridge, Va., married and the father of two children. He had been an agent for "three or four years," Mr. Warren said.

Mr. Nixon, immediately notified of the crash, "expressed deep sadness and sympathy for the family of agent Dietrich," Mr. Warren said. "He has ordered all necessary steps be taken to investigate the cause of the accident and directed the Department of Defense to appoint an investigative board." An Air Force plane flew Mr. Dietrich's body from Homestead Air Force Base in Florida to Greenwich, Conn., where funeral services will be held. Mrs. Dietrich flew in from Washington to accompany his body.

The agent had lived in Greenwich most of his life before joining the White House protective detail two months ago.

The six other agents and three crew members were "slightly injured" and were taken to a hospital at Homestead Air Force Base, Mr. Warren said. The President and his family flew back to their bayside villa here this afternoon aboard a similar Army helicopter.

The survivors had been assisted from the overturned helicopter by the pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Ronald C. Bean, 37 years old, of Dale City, Va.

The agents were able to climb on top of the chopper and to await rescue aboard small boats dispatched from Grand Cay, where they were heard shouting for help.

The chief White House photographer, Ollie Atkins, was standing on the landing pad awaiting the arrival of the helicopter when he heard the splashdown and the engines cut off.

"It was as dark as a cow's belly," Mr. Atkins 'told reporters after he radioed to the security communications base at Walker Cay, six miles away for help.

The VH3A helicopter is one of three used to transport the President and his family, and Mr. Nixon had frequently flown in it.

"I heard a swishing noise like water being poured on hot cement and then the motor stopped," said Mr. Atkins, adding that for the next few moments "I stood there helpless listening to all these guys . . yelling for help."

Rescuers got to the craft about 15 minutes later as the Helicopter that crashed Saturday near Grand Cay, Bahamas, lay overturned in water survivors, coughing from fumes and oil-soaked water, waited on top of it. The survivors were given a preliminary examination on Grand Cay, and then flown by helicopter to the Homestead base for treatment of shock and slight burns from the fuel oil. All were released this morning. Three Navy frogmen—on' alert whenever the President is near water assisted in the rescue.

The surviving agents were identified as: Charles W. Rochner, 31 years old; Michael E. Cleary, 26; William H. Brawley, 34; Stephen J. Petro, 30; Robert R. Stewart Jr., 26, and James Reiter, 30.

The other crewmen were copilot Frederick W. Evans, 33, and Sgt. William R. Robinson, 32, both of Fort Belvoir, Va.

Two rubber rafts, one from the nearby Coast Guard cutter Cape Knox and another deployed from the downed chopper by the pilot, were used in the rescue along with a runabout brought from Grand Cay by Secret Service agents.

A barge was summoned from the Grand Bahama Island to assist in the salvage of the chopper, which remained afloat.

For awhile after the crash, President Nixon quit going to the islands. When he decided to go back, I was on the chopper heading to Walkers Cay but first we were dropping off some agents on grand Cay. All the secret service agents grabbed all the life jackets before we lifted off! When we landed on the beach at Grand Cay, I realized that the choppers back wheels were almost in the water then I knew why they did it.

Looking toward the Main Residence from the chopper pad and site of the crash

Looking toward the Main Residence from the chopper pad and site of the crash